I'm wondering in what scenario would the Saurian Oracle be preferable to the Soothsayer? As I see it, the Soothsayer has x2 heals (+8 instead of +4), and a cure which the Oracle lacks. The Oracle, in return, has a slightly better (5-3 instead of 6-2) melee attack and a slightly better (8-3 vs 6-3) ranged attack. The increased damage is so minor, especially for a healer, that I can't imagine anyone forgoing the extra heal and cure for it.

Is there something I'm missing, or is the Oracle an objectively worse unit in every situation?

I don't think you can say that the ranged attack is only slightly better. A potential 24 vs. 18 is like having a whole extra strike. Also, the difference at night is 30 vs. 21 which is pretty large: There are a lot of level-1 units that have 24-30 HP, and none that have 18-21.

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Campaigns: Dead Water,
The Founding of Borstep,
Secrets of the Ancients,
and WML Guide

Generally what I would say about this is: Considering the situations you will usually be in as drake, that is you will usually have to retake villages and fight immediately after getting a level up oracle as a first lvl 2 augur will almost always be better because it has way more damage and +4 heal of the soothsayer does not actually make up for it in most combat situations. However if you don't expect any fight relatively soon and especially if your army is quite big then soothsayer would be better though i think if you still got oracle it would not be that much worse. Also if eg you are fighting orcs and they have assasins poison healing can also be a factor contributing in favor of the soothsayer however like i said, if eg its night and you are fighting and you need to take back villages - oracle will be better.

I don't think you can say that the ranged attack is only slightly better. A potential 24 vs. 18 is like having a whole extra strike. Also, the difference at night is 30 vs. 21 which is pretty large: There are a lot of level-1 units that have 24-30 HP, and none that have 18-21.

Generally what I would say about this is: Considering the situations you will usually be in as drake, that is you will usually have to retake villages and fight immediately after getting a level up oracle as a first lvl 2 augur will almost always be better because it has way more damage and +4 heal of the soothsayer does not actually make up for it in most combat situations. However if you don't expect any fight relatively soon and especially if your army is quite big then soothsayer would be better though i think if you still got oracle it would not be that much worse. Also if eg you are fighting orcs and they have assasins poison healing can also be a factor contributing in favor of the soothsayer however like i said, if eg its night and you are fighting and you need to take back villages - oracle will be better.

Maybe it speaks to my playstyle that I almost always end up with large armies that need a lot of healing to back them up. Point taken about the damage, it comes out to more than it seems.